PRAISE FOR “NINE PASSES: FLY FISHING THROUGH THE PAST AND PRESENT OF THE HIGH SIERRA”

Nine Passes, Todd Bruce’s deeply personal account of his 300-mile backpacking expedition through the Sierra Nevada, is informed by the author’s vivid sense of history and enduring love of the land. Retracing the route of Charles McDermand, an outdoorsman and writer whose landmark 1946 travelogue The Waters of the Golden Trout Country sparked a national interest in the region, Bruce draws upon his fly fishing expertise and his keen familiarity with the land to illuminate the subtleties of the Sierra Nevada’s flora, fauna, and topography.

Bruce’s five-week trek took him along McDermand’s seventy-year-old route, where he hiked the back country, fished the lakes and streams, and climbed the high mountain passes of trailblazers past—one of whom was Bruce’s great grandfather, George R. Goldman.

The trout waters he explores are those of McDermand, of George Goldman, and of Bruce’s kin: Bruce’s mother, father, and siblings, as well as his own young self, who fished those same glinting pools in the previous decades. Nine Passes is a collation of more than six decades of change in the Sierra fisheries, the story of a family, their bonds, and their memories, the techniques and practices of the fly fishing artistry, and the shifting human attitudes that have sculpted these granite-laden mountains.

Todd Bruce combines a solid mastery of fly fishing, backpacking and love for his family and the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountains to produce a book of true importance. . . . This solidly crafted book is highly recommended to fly fishermen and anyone who has gazed at a distant peak with wonder and curiosity. – Allen Rizzi, Author of The Blackest of Canyons

Mr Bruce weaves an engaging account of his journey to walk in the steps of a famous fly fisherman as well as routes taken by four generations of his family. . . . The author balances technical fishing information, descriptions of mountain beauty and wry observations on backpacking culture in way that will interest anyone.– Susan Gilchrist, Artist

Todd recounts his solo 300-mile hike through the Sierra high country while reminiscing his childhood memories of family backpacking/fishing expeditions to some of the same locations. . . . Its a fairly brisk-reading travelogue that’s unlike any “fishing guides” or novels done in a fly-fishing setting.For readers its a vicarious adventure or stimulus to get out and do it.– Ford Kanzler, Writer for Santa Cruz Waves